In a short ruling issued Thursday, April 24, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) granted Northwestern University’s request for review of a regional director’s decision that Northwestern football players are primarily employees and therefore can be represented by a union. Readers will recall the extensive discussion triggered first by a petition for representation filed in
Executive Actions Aimed at Equal Pay for Women
On Tuesday April 8, 2014, what is now known as National Equal Pay Day, President Obama took two executive actions aimed at narrowing the wage gap between men and women.
Noting that women are the primary breadwinners in 40% of U.S. Households, while bringing home 23% less than their male counterparts, the President signed a Presidential Memorandum which instructs the Secretary of Labor to propose regulations, within 120 days of the Memorandum, requiring federal contractors to submit summary data on employee compensation paid to their employees, including data by sex and race, to the Department of Labor. Those regulations would then require the Department of Labor to use that data in a way that would encourage an employers’ voluntary compliance with current equal pay laws, effectively focusing the Department’s efforts toward reducing discrepancies.
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NLRB Regional Director Sets April 25 as Date for Northwestern Football Players Union
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director has set April 25 as the date for the union vote for Northwestern University’s scholarship football players. As readers of this blog will recall, that vote will determine whether the scholarship football players elect the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA) as their bargaining representative. It is still not
Further Reflections on Unions in College Football – Is “student athlete” a misnomer?
Is this the beginning of the end of college football as we know it? Some argue that the end already has begun, with the “big money” of television and the corresponding commercialization prevalent in the sport. Some argue that in today’s major college football and basketball, the phrase “student-athlete” is a misnomer.
Has the end begun? Perhaps, but as predicted below, look for a legislative initiative to be triggered.
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NLRB Regional Director Finds that Scholarship Football Players at Northwestern are Employees, not “Primarily Students” and Orders Union Election
Readers of this blog will recall our post on January 30 of this year, found here, regarding the effort by certain Northwestern University football players to unionize scholarship players on the team. Many pundits (including this one) predicted that even this National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would not find that the players were employees. Wrong (at least so far)!
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Delay in Supreme Court Review of D.R. Horton Continues to Cost Employers Enforcing Arbitration Agreements
Readers of our series of posts on D.R. Horton will recall our prediction that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) would continue its attacks on certain arbitration agreements. As predicted, the NLRB’s administrative law judges (ALJ) continue to strike down any arbitration agreements that waive class or collective action claims and allow arbitration of only individual claims. The ALJs consistently find that such agreements violate employees’ Section 7 rights to engage in protected concerted activity.
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VW Aftermath – Factors Still Favor Non-Union South
Much speculation abounds regarding why workers at the Volkswagen (VW) plant in Chattanooga rejected the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) in a recent vote. Factors appeared to be aligning in favor of the UAW, such as
- Statements of support for the union from VW representatives in Germany.
- Access to the plant for union organizers.
- Promise of a “works council” type approach to unionization.
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College Football and Labor Law? Let the Debate Begin
A group of football players at Northwestern University has teamed with the United Steelworkers Union and formed a labor union, the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). What’s more, the players have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), at its regional office in Chicago, to have CAPA recognized as the players’ exclusive bargaining representative in negotiations with the players’ “employer.”
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NLRB Continues to Strike Down Arbitration Agreements
Readers of a previous post will recall that in December 2013, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the view of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) in the significant D.R. Horton ruling. There, the Fifth Circuit held that an arbitration agreement that requires employees to arbitrate all employment disputes but restricts the arbitration proceedings to individual arbitrations only (i.e., not allowing class or collective arbitrations) does not violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.
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NLRB Loses Appeal in D.R. Horton: Arbitration Agreements Can Require Only Individual Arbitration, But …
In a split decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the view of the National Labor Relations Board (the Board). According to the Court’s majority opinion, an arbitration agreement that requires employees to arbitrate all employment disputes but restricts the arbitration proceedings to individual arbitrations only (i.e., not allowing class or collective arbitrations) does not violate Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. D. R. Horton v. National Labor Relations Board (December 3, 2013). The Board is considering an appeal.
Why is this important?
Continue Reading NLRB Loses Appeal in D.R. Horton: Arbitration Agreements Can Require Only Individual Arbitration, But …